A Pontiac restaurant owner has been ordered to register as a sex offender and is on a mandatory five years of probation after pleading no contest to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Thomas Traicoff, 70, the owner of Pete's Coney Island on Huron near Telegraph, had nothing to say during his sentencing Tuesday in Oakland Circuit Judge Rae Lee Chabot's courtroom.

Noting the reasoning for her decision that Traicoff be placed on the sex offender registry -- even after the restaurant owner asked that his status stay private -- Chabot said she wanted the record to reflect "the fact that this client ... spent over 50 years in the community running a business."

Traicoff was charged last summer after a teen who worked at the restaurant said Traicoff spoke to and touched her inappropriately. Now 19, she worked for Traicoff from October of 2009 until May of 2012.

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Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Erica Smith, reading from a statement written by the victim's mother, said that the victim was given permission to work at Pete's Coney Island at the age of 15.

"Allowing my child to work at that place of employment was the worst choice I have ever made as a parent," said the victim's mother in the letter.

"I can't begin to understand why a person would ever think it was OK to tell a 16-year-old child that he had slept with black women back in the day at whorehouses.

"During one of the incidents, he also placed his finger down the back of my daughter's pants, in between her butt cheeks."

The letter went on to say that the victim's mother does not forgive the 70-year-old for his actions, and that Traicoff should receive help, "because it's obvious that it's needed."

"Thomas ... I think you are a repulsive person who preys upon weaker people," said the mother.

The Pontiac businessman also was ordered to take DNA and HIV testing, to not make any contact with the victim, and to pay upwards of $2,200 in crime victims fees and court costs.

In court, Traicoff's attorney, Michael Bars, said that some of the allegations contained in the initial police report were false, but that they weren't relevant and his client was ready for sentencing.

"(Traicoff) has certainly been punished not only through his business, but from a humiliation point of view," said Bars. "I know that he's sorry for this whole incident."

Chabot added that Traicoff must complete sex offender treatment, "if and when you are referred by the field agent."

Traicoff and his attorney both declined to comment as they walked out of the courtroom.

Staff writer John Turk covers the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, police and general assignment. He can be reached at 248-745-4613.